How to PREPARE FOR A SCENE

Описание: Preparing for a scene can be stressful for lots of actors, especially when you have to do quickly during an audition. In this video, I'll go over five different ways you for how to prepare for a scene so you can stop stressing about it, make some strong choices, and just have fun creating a world and then playing in it!

00:00 Intro
00:20 Method 1: Tone
00:58 Method 2: The Moment Before
01:35 Method 3: Objective
02:03 Method 4: Relationships
02:48 Method 5: Emotion
03:16 Summary & Outro

Outro music: Lofi Mallet by Kwon
   • Видео  

We'll talk about the following things:

How a scene's tone can affect your decisions as an actor
What is the "moment before" and why it's important
What is an acting "objective" is, and why it can help you to figure it out
How to explore the depth of relationships between characters
How to find an emotional arc in a scene

Breaking down a scene is one of the most basic jobs as an actor - knowing a lot of different ways to do it well will help you stand out from the crowd and become a better actor.

Method 1 - Tone
You always want to be aware of the tone of the scene .This not only applies to genre (drama, comedy, period, farce, sitcom, etc.) but also to the medium (tv show, web series, film, play). Knowing the tone should you know the context for what's expected in the piece you're in and will help you make informed decisions about the choices you make as an actor. For example, comedies are generally faster than dramas, tv is generally faster than film, etc.

Method 2 - The "Moment Before"
This is a phrase you’ll often hear as an actor, and it means to think about what your character was doing immediately before the start of the scene. If they enter the scene, where are they coming from? Who did they just interact with? And what was the nature of that interaction? If they're starting in the scene, what was happening in that moment before we see the scene start? If it starts mid-conversation, what were the words that led up to that point? What were the actions that led up to that point? And how do those words and actions flavor the conversation we're currently seeing? All these things can affect how your character acts and interacts in the current moment.

Method 3 - Objective
In any given scene, your character will always have an objective, or something that they want in that specific moment. If you know what your objective is, you can make better decisions about what tactics you can use to achieve your objective. Most scenes’ conflict derives from two different characters having objectives that are in opposition to each other, so knowing the other characters’ objectives in the scene can help inform your decisions as well.

Method 4 - Relationships
Breaking down your character’s relationships to the other characters in the scene will help you make strong choices .There’s much more you can explore than simply the nature of your relationships. For example, what’s the current status of your relationship? What was your last interaction? What’s the power dynamic? In a perfect world, what would this relationship look like to your character? What does your character ultimately want from this other person? Why do they want it? The more you can explore the depth of these relationships, the more it's going to help you make strong choices in the scene.

Method 5 - Emotion
You can break down the emotion your character is feeling within the scene. Some questions to ask about emotions are:
Why is your character feeling that way? Is this kind of reaction common or not? If so, why? What happened in your character’s backstory that makes them react in the way that they are reacting? How does that inform the emotion now?
You can also break down different levels of that emotion:
What’s the emotional arc? How does it change or shift, and why?

John here! I'm an actor with a degree and 13 years of experience, a martial artist with a second-degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu, and a certified stuntman.

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